Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."Matthew 19:14

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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Trinity Sunday

This is the first post for this new blog site. I hope that you will find it very helpful in reviewing what we do each Sunday in church during the litugical year with children whether they are your own children or those with whom you are interacting with in some way in our church. These posts are meant as a tool to help enhance the spiritual formation of the children in our parish through giving you an avenue in which to discuss topics such as "Trinity Sunday" be it in the Kid's Worship Room, Sunday school classroom, or at home. These posts will also link to other sites which may be helpful for continued discussion.

We have trouble understanding the Trinity, but these object lessons for Sunday
school, using salt, flour and water as the ingredients should make it clear.RELATED SCRIPTURES:
Matthew 5:13, John 3:5OBJECTS NEEDED:
½ cup of salt, ½ cup of water, 1 cup of
flour (you can double or triple this recipe. It will make play dough, and you’ll
want enough that your students can each make something with it.) Bowl,
mixer.PREPARATION:
Practice this recipe once at home if you’re
not familiar with it. Figure out how you’ll need to multiply the recipe to give
a portion of play dough to each of your students.LESSON:
How many of you know what The Trinity is? Get
a show of hands and some answers.

The Trinity is a very important concept in our Christian faith. Trinity
starts with “tri,” which means “three.” There are three members of the Trinity.
Who are they? Father, Son and Holy Spirit, (if it hasn’t been said
already).

However, a lot of people are confused by this. Christians believe in only one
God. And yet, there are three beings: God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit. How does this work? Take some answers if any student wants to
take a try at it.

Three-yet-one sounds contradictory. We don’t really know how the Trinity
works, and that’s okay. There are obviously things in the universe so complex
that man can’t understand them. People who think they can understand everything
are in danger of missing something big!

Today we’re using this cup of common flour and this common table salt to
understand the Trinity.

Hold up the cup of flour. Let’s pretend this is God the Father.
White is a symbol of purity, and we know that God is purest of the pure. Turn the flour over into your bowl.

Hold up the half cup of salt. Let’s pretend this salt is Jesus.
Jesus told us, “You are the salt of the earth” in Matthew 5:13, meaning we
Christians “flavor” the earth by sharing God’s word. And Jesus would certainly
know about that; he was the original salt. Turn the salt over into your
bowl.

Hold up your half cup of water. Let’s pretend this is the Holy
Spirit. Water is often associated with “spirit” in the Bible. In John 3:5, Jesus
says “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the
spirit.”

Mix all ingredients with your mixer.

We’re mixing all three ingredients together. Is the salt still in here? Yes.
Is the flour still in here? Yes.

Is the water still in here? Yes.

All three are still here. Stop mixing. Yet now we have one
substance. Can anyone guess what it is? Hold up some dough and squish it
around in your hand.

It’s one thing now—it’s homemade play dough. And yet, all three ingredients
are still there.

That’s one of the ways we can understand the Trinity—three in one. Definitely
three; definitely one. Let’s make something!

Make enough play dough for all kids; Place on wax paper and write each child's name on the paper; they can make a cross or a triple
cross to symbolize the Trinity; collect each child's creation and take home to bake in a low heated oven in order for the salt dough to harden. After each child's cross is baked and hardened, write their names on the back with a sharpie marker. Return the crosses the following Sunday and use as a review.